Analysis of Navy Joint Contingency Contracting

At the turn of the century and with the end of the cold war traditional twentieth century combat methods underwent a radical change. Armies no longer faced off over strategic pieces of land, but fought asymmetrical battles involving small-scale raids against one another in urban environments. This change required a smaller, more agile force that could respond to small-scale insurgent attacks. In order to achieve this smaller force, the services started to contract out auxiliary services, freeing up soldiers for combat. With the rise of contracted auxiliary support came the need for experienced and qualified contracting personnel who could deploy with combat troops around the world to quickly provide the needed auxiliary support. In response to this need, Congress mandated the implementation of joint contingency contracting policies for combat operations in January 2008 (10 USC 2333). With the new role of Navy personnel as Individual Augmentees (IA) supporting combat ground forces for Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) in Iraq, the need for experienced and qualified Navy Contracting Officers has increased. This report examines to what extent the Navy has implemented 10 USC 2333 and the impact it is having on Navy contracting officers.